Birds twittered in the trees and she watched them swoop across the garden. She’d hung a bird feeder on a branch of a tree close to the cottage, so she could watch the birds from the kitchen window.
Jenna shoved her hands in the pockets of her denim skirt and walked round to the front. She’d feed the birds, then go. She found the birdseed tub in the cupboard below the sink and took it outside. She started to fill one of the feeders when a vehicle pulled into the drive. She frowned. It was Saturday. She wasn’t expecting anyone, unless Lily had decided to call in on her way home but that was unlikely, and Amanda’s boyfriend wasn’t driving down until later. A car door slammed, just one. A tingle shot across Jenna’s shoulders. Footsteps crunched over gravel. She dumped the birdseed tub on the grass and raced around to the front of the cottage. There was no one there.
‘Hello?’
Finn’s voice from inside the cottage made her heart falter.
‘Out here!’
He appeared in the doorway, his blonde hair ruffled, and a familiar cream Ripcurl T-shirt hugged his chest. ‘I thought I wouldn’t get here before you left,’ he said, breathlessly.
‘Oh?’ Jenna shielded her eyes from the sun with her hand.
‘You’re about to leave?’
‘Uh huh.’ Jenna met his blue eyes. He seemed to be less angry than the last time she’d seen him, his face more open, happier, like he’d be willing to talk. ‘I was just feeding the birds.’
They looked at each other, their silence only interrupted by birdsong and a breeze rustling branches.
Jenna put her hands in her pockets. ‘Why are you here?’
‘An actor from your film came over last night. Timothy.’
‘He did what?’
‘He was feeling massively guilty about you.’
Jenna remembered back to the night before and how conflicted he’d been. He’d said he needed to do something. Is that what he’d meant? She’d been too wrapped up in celebrating with Lily and Amanda to notice if Timothy had been there or not. ‘How did he even know where you lived?’
‘He found out from the pub landlord – it’s a small enough place, everyone knows everyone.’
Jenna wasn’t used to that. Where she lived, she only knew the person who lived in the flat opposite to say hello to, and she had no clue who lived above her.
‘Why did he want to see you?’ She hoped she knew the answer but she held her breath anyway.
‘To explain everything – the whole situation with you and Milo. Or not as it turned out.’ He watched her intently and her heart thudded faster at his words. ‘He said the whole thing had been a set-up, from Milo handpicking you for the role, all the flirting, and a photographer being paid to take suggestive photos.’
Jenna bit her lip in an attempt to contain her emotions. ‘Did he tell you why Milo did it?’
‘He was totally upfront to the point he had bloody photos on his phone of him and Milo together.’
‘Woah, he showed you them?’
‘Not like that.’ Finn laughed. ‘A selfie of them kissing. Pretty bloody persuasive though. I’m so sorry I didn’t believe you. It just seemed so definite – I couldn’t unsee those photos of you two and that’s obviously why Milo did it, because people believe what they see, don’t they? Even something that’s not real. I get it now that there was no photo of you actually kissing. I saw you in a bikini with Milo Blake half naked, his hand on your bum, looking like you were about to kiss and I saw red. You were everywhere – friends kept messaging me with stuff from Twitter and photos from Instagram... I bought the story the same way everyone else did...’
Jenna stepped closer and took his hands. ‘I’m sorry about everything too, Finn. But you’ve got to understand you hurt me just as much by not believing I was telling the truth.’
He nodded. ‘I’m so sorry. It’s just I’ve been hurt before... And the thing with Milo...’
‘I know. It’s what he does, plays the fame game and he’s epically good at it. He just picked the wrong person to spin a lie around – to begin with at least; he’s having a ball with Heidi.’
‘Does she know he’s gay?’
Jenna shrugged. ‘I have no idea, but either way I doubt she’d care. She wants the fame as much as he does.’
‘And you don’t?’
Jenna ran her thumbs along Finn’s. ‘No, not like this, not at the cost of friendship or a relationship.’ She met his eyes again. His smile lit up his face, making the tension in her chest disperse. She shook her head. ‘I can’t believe Timothy went round to yours to put the story straight. He’s a decent bloke; I knew he felt guilty for everything Milo had done.’
‘I kinda felt sorry for him. I mean, his boyfriend refuses to be honest about their relationship and feels the need to pretend he’s with women.’
‘And yet Timothy stays with him. He must trust you not to say anything. I wonder if Milo knows Timothy spoke to you?’
‘I’m not going to say a word. You’ve got more risk of a story getting out
